Netflix with Friends: How to make online streaming social
With the advent of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, the rise of the connected television has become the most important entertainment trend of our generation. Long gone are the days where going to the cinema was the best way to stay in touch with current media. Movie revenues decreased 19.5% between 2002 and 2012. Meanwhile, digital movie purchases surged 47% last year alone, and subscription streaming increased 32%. What the connected television market is missing however, is a social layer that truly mimics the experience of going to the cinema with friends.
While many TV shows and movies provide the opportunity to engage with other viewers using hashtags and social media, there is no seamless mechanism to stream a movie or TV show online and watch simultaneously with another person in a different location. The messy solution of being able to watch anything with a friend, family member or significant other online usually involves the use of Skype and counting down to press play at the exact same time. Inevitably, someone is one second ahead of the other and ends up laughing before their friend has heard the punch line to the joke. Several websites, such as InstaSynch seek to solve this pain using the concept of viewing rooms. By building synchronized viewing directly into the product, Netflix could gain a significant competitive advantage and significantly increase subscriptions.
Netflix should implement a sharing feature that allows two or more Netflix users to watch something from the library together. When selecting a movie or show to watch, you can invite (through e-mail or Facebook) somebody who is currently online to watch with you. If the invitation is accepted, Netflix will synchronize playback across both devices. While the video is playing, standard playback controls would affect streams, meaning that if one of the viewers pauses the stream, it would be paused on both accounts. Additionally, a chat window is included on the side of the screen to allow anyone watching together to discuss the movie or show. There are options for instant messaging and voice or video chat, either native or through a client such as Skype, Facebook Messenger or Google Hangouts. Finally, for pairs or groups who watch together frequently, such as couples in long distance relationships, there can be a joint recommendations tab that leverages group preferences to deliver recommendations on what to watch next together.
As Netflix continues to build its library and attract original content, it will inevitably become an increasingly popular source of entertainment for people across the globe. By adding synchronized viewing capabilities, Netflix adds the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle: a true-to-life social experience, making it a much more viable competitor for both the big and small screens.
What do you think? Would you use this feature? What else could Netflix add? Leave us a note or tweet @vivthaker & @anerishah99
